The Philippines to add 124,000 Call Center Jobs in 2014

The call center business is booming in the Philippines, potentially adding 124,000 jobs a year for the next three years, according to government estimates.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) companies are already a major source of employment in the Philippines, particularly for college graduates. The job growth is important in this country of more than 98 million people, where unemployment and underemployment remain economic challenges.

“Based on sectoral projections, we are confident that BPO firms will be able to add an average of 124,000 well-paying jobs annually from 2014 to 2016, or a total of 372,000 new posts over the next three years,” said Roman Romulo, the Philippines congressional representative from Pasig, in article in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

While some economists remain unconvinced that this numbers will come to fruition, the Philippine government is doing everything it can to support the BPO industry. Romulo, who is chair of the House committee on higher and technical education, has drafted legislation to support and expand the industry in the country. He is the author of the Data Privacy Act, which he says played a role in establishing the current call center operations in the Philippines.

The Data Privacy Act, established in August 2012, requires all companies, including call centers, to protect the confidentiality of personal information collected from clients and stored in their systems. The legislation conforms to strict international privacy standards, helping alleviate concerns about security and attract global BPO companies to invest in call centers in the country.

The Philippines Business Processing Association projects the revenue from the country’s BPO firms to increase from $9 billion in 2011 to $25 billion by 2016.

This growth is exactly what government officials want to see. “As they draw in more business, the super BPO firms can quickly scale up their activities here and hire extra staff, while reducing cost per unit of output owing to greater operational efficiency,” Romulo said.